Cole Cash/sheet
Skills * The Grifter - Master - Before Cole Cash was a WildC.A.T.S. member, before he was a government guinea pig, a merc, and a soldier... he was a grifter. A con artist. He was - and still is - very good at reading people, manipulating them, scamming them... and getting away with it. He has seen through the facades of trained assassins, and successfully conned other con-artists. He lives up to his "name". * Marksman - Master - Cole's forte is with a pistol - or two - in his hand. He is a crack-shot with most ranged weapons, including some of alien origin (such as Kheran and even Daemonite tech). Cash's hand/eye coordination is not quite superhuman, but is not far from it. There's a reason they called him "Deadeye" in Team 7. * Combatant - Master - Cole's military training encompasses a variety of hand-to-hand and melee combat styles in which he is highly proficient. His experience with melee weaponry goes beyond the terrestrial (as with ranged weaponry, above). In addition to Terran weapons, he is also able to fight with the Kusar Blade, and Clef Blade - a sword and pike, respectively, used by the Coda. Cole is good enough to keep up with his Kheran comrades. * Coda Training - High - The Coda Sisterhood hail from the planet Khera and usually reserve their martial arts and mental disciplines for women (and only women) who prove their worth. Zealot, however, trained Cole in the ways of the Sisterhood, making him the first male Coda. While he has not had thousands of years to perfect this training, he is still quite adept. Being a Coda helps him control his powers. * Black Ops/Tactician - Master - Cash a keen mind for military tactics, and he has extensive military (and covert military) training and experience. Incursions, extractions, kidnappings, sabotage, assassinations... all of it. * Sleight of Hand - Expert - Wanna see a card trick? Cole knows many, and he is very, very good. Don’t ever play cards with him (or most other games that involve the exchange of cash/valuables). He cheats. He is a grifter after all. Imagine him in a card game against Gambit... * Linguistics/Customs - Cole is trained in SpecOps hand-signing, the Kherubim language, Coda protocols, and knows a smattering of other languages - bits of Khmer (Cambodian), Arabic, and Russian. He is much better at reading body-language, micro-expressions and the like. Powers and Abilities * Telepathy - Cole's telepathic potential has been almost entirely suppressed by sheer mental discipline (i.e. training the ways of the Coda), and so he rarely ever uses it. Even so, the ability remains but in a diminished capacity. Passive telepathy is little more than a faint, background "hum", with only the shadow of a hint slipping through here and there (e.g. maybe sensing something "off" about a person standing beside him - a vibe). If Cole were ever to actively engage this power (i.e. deliberate mind-reading, mind-control, illusions, the power of suggestion, psychic assault, etc), on occasion... there would have to be a damn good reason for it. Cole can use technology that requires (or is tied to) telepathy, and he is acutely aware of telepathic/empathic influence upon himself, and very difficult to mind-control. Generally though, it isn't a tool he relies on anymore. * Telekinesis - Cash's telekinetic skills are much like his telepathy: suppressed. Diminished. Discarded (for the most part). Cole is possibly more inclined to use telekinesis (that telepathy), and if so - it would likely be subtle (such as psionically enhancing a sleight of hand trick, remotely pick-pocketing someone, creating a momentary distraction, or a psionic blast or shield - if no other means were available). The important thing to note is that Cole does not see his superpowers as part of "who he is" anymore. They belong an "old Cole" - a Cole who has since moved on. The power is there, but he has learned to live without it, and he is happier this way. * Enhanced Regenerative Healing Factor - This is a passive power continually in effect. Although Cole's ability to heal is not as extraordinary as it used to be, he can still recover from severe injuries in a matter of days, and he has some resistance to poisons, toxins, disease etc... * Peak Physical Conditioning - Not really a "power", but Cash's mind and body have been developed into a living weapon, more or less, and he keeps himself always at the peak of physical and mental efficiency (for a human). His reflexes, for example, are fast enough to sometimes pluck projectiles out of the air (such as an arrow fired at his chest, or a knife thrown at his back), when attacked. Cash is more likely to rely upon his wits, reflexes and agility than his brute strength. Specials * Arrested Aging - Another little "gift" from Project: Genesis. Cole is in his 60s, but looks like a young man in his late 20s/early 30s. It is unknown exactly how long he will live, but it will surely be far longer than an average human (unless something gets the drop on him)... * Iron Will - Cole's mental discipline and focus is nigh superhuman. He was strong-willed before he met Zannah, but since she trained him to be a Coda, he has the willpower of a monk. * Veteran Superhero - Grifter has been around for a while now, and he has spent most of that time doing what he does best: soldiering, killing the bad guy, saving the good guy. Resources, Gear, and Paraphernalia * WildCATS - As a member of the team, Cole has access to it resources, and above all - its people. * VAD PP30 Pistols - Although Grifter uses a wide variety of weaponry (ranging from specialised military firearms, to rare and exotic - even alien - hardware), his "weapon of choice" is the VAD PP30 sidearm. Designed by HALO Corporation's Vulcan Arms Division especially for Cole, the PP30 is a semi-automatic, particle-pulse handgun that fires 44mm explosive pulse-packs with perilous accuracy. Cole can adjust the CPC (Catalytic Particle Converter) to change the effects of the gun from mere stun-blasts to devastating armour-piercing shots. * Mask/Armour - "This is the face your kind will remember..." Like Boba Fett, Grifter's mask is his face. His usual mask (issued by HALO Corp, acts as an airborne toxin inhibitor and infrared night-vision locator (much like the headset worn by Cash when he was with Team 7. Of course, he often just ends up wearing a cloth-substitute if his advanced mask is damaged. His armour is also state-of-the-art for stopping small-calibre arms-fire and basic melee damage. * MIRV - The Multipurpose Intercept/Reconnaissance Vehicle is the WildCATS' warplane. Designed by HALO Corp with the most cutting-edge technology available, the MIRV is capable of impressive high speeds, and avoiding most forms of detection when necessary. It also has the added ability of separating into smaller vehicles for those times when the team must split up. * Coda Cycle - Motorcycles of this make were developed by the government and to the WildCATS for both personal and professional use. A Coda Cycle is extremely fast - enough that non-super-powered riders need to be extremely careful when riding one. Each cycle can be tracked by WildCATS HQ (in the HALO Corp Tower, Metropolis, and even have the controls overridden remotely. * Safe-Houses - The WildCATS have hideaways all over the place, but Cole also has access to a few of his own. Flaws and Drawbacks * "The Rush" - Most of Cole Cash's Gen-Factor super-powers have been locked away/suppressed. The remainder he chooses not to use most of the time, and this has a lot to do with how they make him feel - but also their side-effects. If he should indulge (a lot) he may put himself at risk of "crashing" (think "severe drug-withdrawal"), which would result in either insanity, or death, or both. To hear the way Cole talks about his "powers" would suggest he has more control than he lets on - they just make him feel...tainted. * Bad Reputation - "Now I've got another suspect... Fuck it. I'll just kill 'em both." The man, "Cole Cash", is technically dead (he faked it). "The Grifter", however, has a reputation - and it isn't exactly a good one. When the Grifter takes down a Daemonite (one posing as a human), to the public it often appears as if he has murdered an innocent. This is not the case... usually. Maybe. * Wanted Man - "There's only one way I can get close enough to the Daemonites to stop them... I'm going to convince the world that I'm a villain. It will be the greatest con I've ever pulled." Cash, thus, has many enemies (not just the Daemonites). Any of them would give a fortune for the chance take the Grifter down... * Pride - Someone once told Cole: "Your weaknesses are far too easy to identify - because they're all rooted in pride." Someone had a point. Humility isn't exactly Cole's strong suit, but he doesn't see "pride" as a weakness, personally. It's all part of his charm... * Reckless - "This card is still a bit wild..." Cole is known for his daring tactics (clever tactics to be sure - but daring)... to a fault. He doesn't hold back. Relationships * Max Cash - "I don't see the unit. I see my brother with an axe to grind." Max and Cole are rarely on the best of terms. They often end up on opposite sides of a conflict. Max is a good soldier - almost as good as Cole is (and Cole won't let him forget that part). * Lord Emp - A.K.A. Jacob Marlowe. "Emp trusts you to do your job; you just need to trust him to do his." - Grifter to Warblade. Despite the fact that Grifter often refers to Marlowe as "Little Buddy", he has a lot of respect for the man, and trusts him enough to follow orders (usually) without question. * Zannah - "You know, forgetting for a minute the fact that I hate you... you're still pretty good." Cole owes a lot to Zannah, in more ways than one - that said, their relationship is so volatile they could be in each other's arms at one moment, and at each other's throats the next. "Friends with benefits" would be an apt description of a "good" day. * Charis - "Don't piss off the chick with swords that can cut through anythin'... Fuck, that's no fun!" Charis was Zannah's protégé, and given that they're both Kherubim - to one degree or another - there's a lot of history between them. Grifter tends to keep out of Zannah's issues, so he has no real problem with Charis - he can annoy her all on his own. * Majestros - TBA * Deathblow - "It was about justice... it was about honor and obligation. You didn't leave a man behind, and you didn't let someone take him down without paying the price." This fellow is one of Cash's former comrades (from Team 7), and his best friend. Cray was the last of Team 7 to manifest any powers - and he got the rudest shock after he "woke up" from death: he can't die. * Miles Craven - "Craven... you sonofabitch." Craven was the man behind the Gen-Factor experiment - the experiment that endowed Cash's team with super-powers... and drove most of them insane. A lot of good soldiers are dead because of Miles Craven. * John Lynch - "We're not heroes anymore, Lynch. We're monsters." John Lynch never did "get it", according to Cole. He never did see want the government had done to them - despite Cole's efforts to show him. They parted ways a long time ago, and while they may not quite be "enemies", they are surely not friends. * Helspont - "You alien, freakin' abomination! You damned monster!!" Grifter hates Helspont (and all Daemonites), may he rot in the sewerpits of Hell with nothing to look up to but the assholes of all the lesser spawn above him. Amen.